Chapter 567: The Act of Using a Cannon to Kill Mosquitoes

When Meng Jie usually films, she always keeps Chocolate by her side, but variety shows aren't really suitable for bringing a dog along, unless it's one of those more laid-back lifestyle variety shows.

But she's already made up her mind: when she records "Fifty Kilometers Peach Blossom Land" next year, she must bring Chocolate along.

Originally she hadn't planned on it, because although that show is also considered a slow variety show, her own star power isn't that high, and if it were just her alone, she wouldn't dare bring a pet directly, for fear of getting criticized.

If someone happened to take a dislike to her because of this, that would be terrible~

But now it's fine!

Her little hedgehog has already agreed to participate in the show with her, so when the time comes she can just stuff Chocolate into his arms—who could say anything about that?

That little simp loves sticking to Bai Liang~

Regarding the matter of "the fox borrowing the tiger's might," Meng Jie has quite a bit of experience, you could say she's gotten quite skilled at it through practice.

Speaking of which, when it comes to bringing pets on shows, there are actually "predecessors" who have set an example for her.

Na Zha often brings Little Treasure on shows to get screen time.

She's already a regular guest on that dating variety show "I Like You, Me Too," and this entire season she recorded while holding Little Treasure the whole time—the little thing has become the group's pet.

Although Meng Jie doesn't really like paying attention to Guli Na Zha's affairs, what she says and what she actually does are two different things, because big data doesn't lie.

She often sees all kinds of news about Guli Na Zha on Douyin or Weibo, including clips from the show and such.

She'd still complain out loud: Why am I seeing her again?!

But if she didn't watch them every single time, big data wouldn't keep pushing them to her.

However, after Bai Liang discovered something interesting in her Douyin favorites, things got a little strange.

"Eh~"

"The blogger teaches you to learn Guli Na Zha's makeup style."

The instant she heard the sound, Meng Jie gave a start and hurriedly snatched her phone back from Bai Liang.

But the voice of that damned beauty blogger in the video didn't stop.

"Sisters, today we're going to share with everyone a product that Na Zha loves using the most—"

After frantically pausing and exiting, Meng Jie's expression had become extremely peculiar.

She wanted to speak but hesitated, wanting to explain something, yet not quite knowing how to begin.

From the previous fear to the current learning—it was all rather hard to bring up.

Regarding such an awkward matter, Bai Liang didn't press on despite Meng Jie's embarrassment, but instead imitated her kind of abrupt transition and directly changed the subject.

"You'd better prepare well. When it's time to film and record, perform well, otherwise I can only clumsily pull strings for you, and then we'll both get scolded together."

Meng Jie's face turned red, as if she still hadn't recovered from the "Na Zha makeup look," and just nodded.

Of course she would perform well!

Actually, based on past experience, when she acted with her own little hedgehog, it was as if she got a buff, and she always performed better than usual.

But this time Bai Liang would be sitting in the director's seat watching her act, and wouldn't be acting with her. Whether she could still get this mysterious buff, Meng Jie couldn't say, but she would definitely give it her all.

After all, it would be one thing if she embarrassed herself, but she absolutely couldn't embarrass Bai Liang!

But actually she was overthinking it.

It wasn't her turn to embarrass anyone.

Once Bai Liang's "assistant director" lineup was fully assembled, everyone had already stopped paying attention to Meng Jie, this small-time nobody.

—

The new episode of "Actors, Take Your Places" recording was divided into two segments.

The first segment was similar to before: actors performed according to the previously assigned scenes, the mentors gave critiques, and then based on "votes" it was confirmed who advanced and who was eliminated—or rather, wrapped up.

The second segment was preparation for the upcoming "original" script, as well as assigning roles and such.

This was content that relatively needed to be recorded over a longer stretch of time—although they were filming short films, they still had to be properly filmed after all.

That said, the production team hadn't invested a small amount in this area.

Especially after Bai Liang this guy chose to "mess around," the production costs shot straight up!

The "good friends" he called in to help didn't actually care about appearance fees, but since they didn't want them, the production team couldn't not pay them!

But even at friendship prices, when all these people were added together it was still a considerable expense, and on top of that there were the crew's expenses too?

These people had brought their own "provisions"—could the production team not reimburse them?

But even so, the "Actors, Take Your Places" production team spent money quite willingly, even secretly delighted.

Because wanting to stir things up also requires ability.

An ordinary person couldn't create the kind of commotion Bai Liang did—although it was a bit outrageous, there were indeed quite a few highlights!

Just the names of those "assistant directors" lined up there would probably make the audience very curious to see what these people would come up with when they got together.

At this moment, the other mentors, who only knew Bai Liang had chosen to call in people but didn't know how many he'd called, were gathered together chatting cheerfully.

The future "disappeared" female version of Buffett was even asking Chen Kaige about Bai Liang.

"Director Chen, when Bai Bai Daxian arrives later, you must introduce me. I heard your previous collaboration went very smoothly."

"You want to find him to act in a film?" Chen Kaige asked casually.

But the female version of Buffett just smiled without answering.

At this point Chen Kaige caught on—she was now in the capital game, who would she be filming for?

As for why she was interested in Bai Liang, it probably wasn't because he was a good actor or had box-office appeal, but because of the terrifying commercial value he carried.

Regarding this, Chen Kaige didn't completely take the bait either, and just played it off with a laugh.

This woman's background was too complicated—best to keep some distance.

Er Dongsheng nearby also seemed quite interested in Bai Liang. He was currently one of the more active Xiangjiang directors in the film circle, and also the kind who saw things very clearly.

He himself had said that when mainland film box office crossed the hundred-million mark, Xiangjiang films were overturned.

And by now, it was no longer just a matter of being overturned.

Bai Liang's absurd achievement of three billion in box office over five years is nothing short of an exaggerated myth in the Xiangjiang market.

Perhaps considering the era, if one insists on calling Bai Liang the highest-grossing actor in the history of Mandarin-language cinema, it would be highly controversial, because there are simply too many factors to weigh, and across different eras a direct comparison really cannot be made.

But strictly speaking of the present moment, Bai Liang is the top one in the realm of commercial film actors.

For an actor like this, most directors with any ambition probably want to work with him.

As for Er Dongsheng, Chen Kaige didn't beat around the bush either; instead, he praised Bai Liang a few times right in front of him, successfully whetting his appetite, so that Er Dongsheng was actually quite looking forward to meeting Bai Liang.

Five minutes later, he wasn't looking forward to it quite so much.

The expression on his face had gone completely goddamn rigid.